Automobile ignition lock



G. W. TURNER.

AUTOMOBILE IGNITION LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. I8, I91?- RENEWED OCT. 29, 1919.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922'.

l me z 7, GeQII/IZYZIIWEI" After? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. TURNER, OI MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO TURNER AUTO LOCK COMPANY, 01 HINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION 01' MINNE- BOTA.

AUTOMOBILE IGNITION LOCK.

Application filed January 18, 1917, 8erial No. 143,171. Renewed October 29, 1919. Serial No. 834,872.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. TURNER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile Ignition Locks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification? Heretofore most devices of this kind have failed to prevent the unauthorized use of automobiles owing to the fact that they have been mere circuit breakers used on the primary wires only.

The common fault with all such devices is that, even though they be equipped w1th an unpickable lock which can only be operated by its individual key, they can all be wired around in a very short space of time by any person having a very slight knowledge of electricity,hence making the locking portion of the device of no practlcal benefit.

The object of this invention is to afford a circuit breaking device which cannot be wired around in the short space of time necessary for an unauthorized person so to do and still avoid detection.

It also is an object of the invention to afford a construction in which an individual locking deviceis provided for each and every lock, whereby any two locks, though identical in all other respects, can only-be unlocked, in position to complete the electric circuit, by use of a key approprlate for that lock only, thereby preventing unauthorized interference.

It is also an object of the invention to afford a construction of such simple, compact,

and durable nature as to require no attention whatever on the part of the user other than pushing a. button to lock the device and the inserting of a key and removing of same to unlock, and by the use of which shortcircuiting and imperfect contact are impossible.

The invention comprises the'features hereinafter described, and more fully pointed out and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side longitudinal section of my invention and showing the key in place and the lock ready to snap open; Fig, 2 is a section on the line Z-Z of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line X-X of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a top longitudinal sectional view on the line W-VV of Fig. 1 when the tumbler bolt is in locked position; Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line Y-Y of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the spider andFig. 7 is a perspective view of the inner terminal and switch arm support.

In the drawing, let A re resent the main body of the lock made 0 metal or other suitable material having a cylinder 2 and circular flange 3, said flange being provided with holes such as 4, through which screws may be passed for securing said main part on a suitable support (not shown) such as the dash or foot board of an automobile.

Mounted in the cylinder is a sliding tumbler bolt B which is formed with a key receiving slot 5 and a tongue 6, the latter corresponding with a slot 7 in the cylinder and the end of slot 7 serving to limit outward but permitting inward sliding movement of the bolt in the cylinder. The cylinder has tumbler openings 8 of any suitable number and the bolt tumbler openings 9 of corresponding number, said tumbler openings in said cylinder and bolt being adapted to register in the innermost position of the bolt after the bolt has been pushed in. Suitable sectional tumblers of usual construction are placed in the tumbler openings in the cylinder-and bolt, said tumblers being urged diametrically inwardly by suitable helical springs 10. When a key C out with suitable notches 11 is inserted in said key slot, the

bolt is released from innermost locked position. When it is desired to lock the device the bolt is pushed in without the use of a key until the tumblers catch and lock the device.

Supported by the body A is a spider D composed of insulating material and in the form of a circular plate 12 havin longitudinal arms 13 extending on either side there'- of, the ends of said arms on one side of said plate being secured in openings 14 in the cylinder 2 by pins 15, and the ends of said arms on the other side of said plate being fitted in openings 15 in a disk shaped electrical terminal support E also made of insulating material and rigidly secured to one face of said disk by pins 16 (see Fig. 2). Mounted upon said terminal support E are a plurality of binding posts 17, there being a terminal provided for each electri- Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

cal conducting wire such as 18 leading from the distributer such as 19 on the high tension side ofthe circuits leading'from the usual magneto or battery spark circuit carried by an automobile.

Mounted upon the inner end of the bolt B is a switch actuator, made of insulating or other suitable material and in -the form of a circular body 20 placed over and rigidly secured to the inner end of the tumbler bolt by the pin 21 and provided with athin cylindrical shell surrounding a portion of t e cylinder A and said spider and terminal support. Secured to each of the binding posts 17 is a backwardly extending spring switch arm 22 resting normally against the inner surface of the backward end of the cylindrical shell F, of insulatin material, while positioned opposite eac of said switch arms is a companion spring switch arm 23, the latter being mounted upon the inner surface of an outer casin G and normally pressing against the periphery of the cylindrical shell F. In locked position, that is, when the tumbler bolt is pressed in, the switch arms constituting each pair are spread apart and the bolt caught and held locked by the tumblers. When the proper key C is inserted and the tumblers moved into releasing position as shown in Fig. 1, helical tension springs 24 will slide the bolt B outwardly carrying with it the cylindrical shell F until reaching outermost, or unlocked position, whereupon the switch arms 22 and 23 close together and complete circuits leadin from the distributor 19 through con uctors 18 and 25 to the spark plugs such as 26 which are usually employed on the internal combustion engine. The switch arms 23 and conductors of each pair are mounted upon or connected to- 'gether by suitable binding posts 27 secured to the casing G. This casing is of cylindrical form fitted over and secured to the cylindrical body A by screws 28 or other suitable means and has its inner end reduced in size and formed with an open end 29 through which the conductors such as 18 leading to the terminals 17 pass.

The tension springs 24 are secured by their ends to the pin, 21 in the body of the circuit actuator and to pins 30 in the cylinder A, said cylinder being formed with reception wells 31 in which the springs are freely supported. These springs are of sufficient strength to slide the tumbler bolt and the load carried by thebolt into outermost position, the latter being defined by the meetin of the shoulders 6 and -7. A thin cylindrical shell 32 secured over the cylindrical body 2 serves to hold the pins 15 and 30 and springs 10 in lace. It will-be noted that the body 20 of t e switch actuator has passages 33 (see Figs. 1 and 5), through which the arms 13 of the spider D extend freely so that the switch actuator is not retarded in movement by said arms.

In operation, to lock the ignition circuit, the tumbler bolt, which resembles a push button projecting from the cylinder body, is pressed into innermost position, in which position it is caught and held by the tumblers until the proper key is pushed into the key slot, whereupon the bolt is released into unlocking position.

The construction described is simple and effective in preventing a person without a key either from picking the lock easily or wiring around the lock in a short space of time. It is so simple that no attention is required by the operator to keep it in perfect working condition and is so constructed on the high tension side of the ignition circuits that short circuitin and imperfect contact are impossible. he structure is such that if the outside casing is broken by an intruder there is likelihood of the electrical circuits being broken, making the device doubly eflective.

It will be understood that by the ignition circuits where referred to throughout this specification and the claims following is meant the electrical circuits leading from the magneto or other source of electrical energy to the spark plugs of the internal combustion engine employed as the prime mover of any self pro elled vehicle.

In accordance with t e patent statutes, I have described the principles of operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the construction shown is onl illustrative and that the invention can e carried out by other means and applied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope of the followin claims Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. In combination with a switch for opening and closing the "ignition electrical cir-- cult of an internal combustion engine, a lock for controlling the opening and closin of said switch having a tumbler bolt slidable inwardly to open said switch and releasable by the insertion of a key to move said switchinto circuit closing position.

2. A switch for controlling the ignition electrical circuits leading to the spark plugs of an internal'combustion engine comprising,

in combination, spring switch arms with which said circuits are connected, a circular actuator shell. slidable between said switch arms to open or permit them to close, a lock having a tumbler bolt over and on which said actuator is rigidly mounted a support in which said bolt is freel slldable' into switch opening and locke position and adapted to be engaged by the tumblers to lock said bolt in switch opening position, and spring actuating means tending to move said bolt into switch closing position, said bolt having a key receiving slot in which a key is insertable to release said bolt from said tumblers.

3. In a switch the combination with a lock, having an outer casing, a lock bolt adapted to slide inwardly into locking position and outwardly into open position, a pair of spring pressed switch arms rigidly supported and adapted to normally close together and an insulated actuator carried by said bolt and having a shell knife member adapted to be inserted between and open said switch arms when the lock bolt is pressed inwardly and to be withdrawn to allow the switch arms closing when the lock bolt is moved out into unlocking position.

4. In a switch the combination with a lock, having a body formed with an outer casing, a lock bolt adapted to slide inwardly into locking position in said body and outwardly into open position, a spider frame projecting inwardly from said body, a plurality of pairs of spring pressed switch arms supported by said casing and said spider, each pair being adapted to close together normally and a shell knife member mounted upon said bolt and having a thin blade adapted to be inserted between and open said switch arms when the lock bolt is pressed irwardly and to be withdrawn from between said arms when the lock bolt is moved outwardly.

5. A device for controlling ignition circuits, comprising, in combination, a housing of insulating material, a switch within the housing for each circuit including an inner arm adapted to be connected with the source of electrical supply and an outer arm adapted to be connected with a lead extending from said device, said arms being normally engaged, one with the other, a cup shaped actuator of insulating material, the wall thereof being slidable between the members of each'pair of switch arms to separate the same and encase the inner members of each pair, thus effectually barring the transmission of current from the inner switch members to the outer switch members, and means for shifting said actuator and locking the same in position breaking said circuits.

6. A device for controlling ignition circuits, comprising, in combination, a housing of insulating material, a switch within the housing for each circuit including an inner arm adapted to be connected with the source of electrical supply and an outer arm adapted to be connected with a lead extending from said device, said arms being normally bolt attached to said actuator and slidable by pressure against the action of said yielding means to break the circuits and releasable from circuit breaking position by the insertion of a key, whereby said actuator may be moved into circuit closing position by the action of said yielding means.

7. In a device of the class described, a body, a housingof insulating material on said body, a switch arm on the body insulated therefrom and a companion arm on the housing, said arms being normally engaged by spring pressure and adapted to be connected with leads in an ignition circuit, a cup-shaped actuator of insulating material slidable within said housing, the wall thereof being insertable between and removable from said arms to break or permit a completion of a circuit therethrough.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE W. TURNER. 

